O dicionário no contexto escolar: conhecimento e habilidades de uso

Abstract

Reading is an essential component of the educational process, and within this context, the school dictionary stands out as a relevant tool for supporting textual comprehension, fostering vocabulary expansion, and stimulating metalinguistic reflection. Despite its recognized pedagogical potential, studies and school practices demonstrate that dictionary use remains limited, predominantly focused on the search for definitions, and insufficiently explored in the development of more complex consultation skills. In this scenario, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, perceptions, and dictionary-use skills of teachers and 6th-grade students in the Municipal School Network of Chapecó/SC, examining how this resource is understood, mobilized, and integrated into pedagogical practices, as well as the factors that facilitate or hinder its use in daily school life. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative procedures to produce a multifaceted understanding of the phenomenon. In the quantitative phase, questionnaires were administered to teachers and students to map knowledge of macrostructure and microstructure, identify the frequency and purposes of dictionary use, determine difficulties encountered, and investigate possible associations between variables related to its use. The data were analyzed statistically using Kendall’s tau-b correlation coefficient, which made it possible to observe significant relationships among reported practices, structural knowledge, and perceived effectiveness. In the qualitative phase, focus groups were conducted to deepen participants’ perceptions, conceptions, challenges, and representations associated with dictionary use. The session transcripts were subjected to content analysis, enabling the identification of regularities, tensions, and gaps related to the pedagogical use of dictionaries. The integrated analysis of the data revealed that both teachers and students demonstrate limited mastery of essential structural elements of school dictionaries, predominantly recognizing the definitional function. Other functionalities, such as grammatical information, usage labels, semantic relations, and contextualized examples, are rarely identified or mobilized in reading or writing practices. The results also revealed structural and pedagogical barriers that limit a more qualified use of this resource, including insufficient teacher training in Pedagogical Lexicography, the low frequency of systematic instruction on consultation skills, and, in some institutions, limited access to various types of dictionaries. Despite these constraints, participants acknowledged the value of dictionaries as learning tools and expressed willingness to expand their use when provided with adequate guidance and pedagogical support. Based on these findings, the study highlights the need to strengthen lexical literacy in schools through explicit and systematic instruction in dictionary consultation skills, considering not only the mastery of macrostructure and microstructure but also the exploration of contemporary lexicographic resources, both print and digital. It also proposes pedagogical strategies aimed at integrating the dictionary into reading practices, writing development, and linguistic analysis, along with continuing education initiatives that expand teachers’ understanding of the pedagogical potential of lexicographic tools. By revealing gaps, challenges, and potentialities, this research contributes to the field of Pedagogical Lexicography and to the improvement of teaching and learning practices, promoting vocabulary expansion, the development of reading autonomy, and the formation of more critical and proficient language users.